The End of the Republican Party
04 Nov 2026 · 2 min read
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
And I feel fine.
R.E.M., 1987, from the song “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”
By now, we’ve all heard the news.
The 2026 US Midterm elections delivered a historic blue wave that washed across the country, engulfing long-held Republican strongholds, with even the great state of Texas electing a Democratic governor as well as a Democratic US senator.
In fact, the margin of victory for Democrats (or, in other words, the depth of the defeat for Republicans) was the largest seen since 1976, in the aftermath of Watergate.
Let’s stop and think about this for a minute. In the earlier election, it had been the members of Nixon’s own party who had met with him and convinced him to resign, rather than face certain impeachment. And Nixon did indeed step down, ceding the presidential office to Gerald Ford.
In other words, despite Nixon’s transgressions, other Republicans could credibly distance themselves from their president’s shame.
Which didn’t stop them from suffering historic losses in the next election… but which did allow them to soldier on and rebuild.
But now?
First of all, the boat anchor around the necks of Republicans — Donald Trump, that is — is not beating a quiet retreat to his retirement mansion of choice, but in fact will still be around for two more years, barring some further misfortune.
How do you wash the stink off when he’s still in the spotlight, sucking up as much attention as possible?
And then there’s the fact that every Republican politician still standing has, far from repudiating Trump, instead repeatedly embraced him, and given him their full support.
How do you change that image?
I wrote a piece back in 2021 titled “The Decline of the Republican Party – First Gradually and then Suddenly.”
Let me quickly list the issues I identified back then.
- Ideological bankruptcy
- Dependence on misinformation
- Disconnection from modern business
- Naked avarice
- A leadership vacuum
And I think these points hold up pretty well. All of the issues I called out then are indeed the ones that led to the historic defeat that happened last night.
So I think it’s now fair to say we have reached the suddenly part of the bankruptcy trajectory.
And so, having sold their souls to Donald Trump lock stock and barrel — and having been led by him into a box canyon that resulted in a massacre of epic proportions — how do other Republicans pick up the pieces? Or, more precisely, what pieces are left to be picked up? In a way that might actually win them future elections?
I don’t think there’s a Republican in the country who has a credible answer to that question today.